Port Credit Protesters Urge Prince of Pot’s Return to Canada

By
Graeme Frisque, The Sheridan Sun
on October 2, 2013

Marc Emery supporters and marijuana legalization advocates marched in Port Credit on Sunday to protest the convicted man’s term in a U.S. prison.

The NDP-sponsored group, made up of about a dozen Emery supporters and members of the Mississauga South NDP riding association, marched from Port Credit Memorial Park to the riding office of Conservative MP Stella Ambler who represents Mississauga South. They delivered a letter urging the Harper government to complete Emery’s transfer from the U.S. to Canada to finish out his sentence here.

Emery is waiting for newly minted Public Safety Minister, Steven Blaney’s decision on his fate.

“I’m here with the NDP to bring Marc Emery back into Canada from the U.S. We need the minister to sign his paper work. The U.S. has already approved his transfer back to Canada, so we need to put a little bit of pressure to get the Conservative government to bring him home,” said Britney Johnston, who worked with Emery at Cannabis Culture Magazine before his incarceration.

The U.S. Department of Justice approved his transfer and sent the decision to the Canadian Federal Public Safety Department for approval in July. However, Emery still sits in a medium security prison in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Emery, 55, a Canadian citizen known as Canada’s “Prince of Pot”, has been jailed in the U.S. since his controversial extradition in May of 2010. He admitted to operating a mail-order marijuana seed business that sold and shipped seeds in Canada and across the border in the U.S.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana in a Seattle courtroom, and as part of an agreement with the prosecution, was sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison.

“Marc’s in jail and he shouldn’t be. It’s wrong that the Canadian government let the Americans come in and take him in the first place. He shouldn’t be going to jail for selling seeds. He‘s never been there and sold a seed in his life. It’s appalling that he has to serve a five-year sentence there,” said Matthew Oliver, an Emery supporter who took part in the rally.